It was unusual for Erza to be back in Magnolia while Mirajane was still on a job; after all, Mira still only rarely accepted requests, preferring to accompany her siblings to make sure that things would go smoothly rather than to choose a request for herself.

It was a weird feeling. Loneliness. Fairy Tail members didn't often have an opportunity to feel lonely, always surrounded by friends and family. And today, Erza hadn't felt lonely until the moment she had said good night to the other girls and went back to her room. Her room felt empty, no matter how much she loved it here, no matter how comfortable she felt at home.

Sat on her bed, she sighed. It was late now. The sun was long gone. It should be time to sleep. Time to get ready for bed.

Bling.

The noise made her glance around the room, but there was nothing out of the ordinary. Everything was where it belonged. Erza breathed out, slow and controlled, and she requipped her favorite pajamas. She was still on edge after coming back home from a long mission. That must have been it.

Bling.

The window. Erza hurried to the windows. It didn't sound like a branch scratching glass, and the night was too quiet for the wind to shake even the leaves of the tree.

Bling.

She saw it this time, something hitting the glass. Surely, it couldn't be... Erza shook her head and opened the window. And like she had expected, like she had hoped, Mira was standing there, leaning her back against a tree, like she had so many times when they were younger.

Erza couldn't help the smile that tugged at her lips. Mirajane was back.

"Finally! I was starting to think I had the wrong window!"

Even in the middle of the night, Mira's smile was bright as the sun, far outshining any star that illuminated the dark sky. Erza had always thought that Mira looked gorgeous like that, moonlight reflecting in her silver hair.

"Not that I'm complaining, but what are you doing here?" Erza asked, trying her best to be heard without waking up all the other girls. "Shouldn't you be resting at home?"

"I wanted to see you."

Erza's smile softened at the words. Years ago, Mira would have said that she wanted to kick her ass or go wreak havoc somewhere in the city for the fun of it. But those years were mere memories now.

"You could have just come in, you know?"

Mirajane grinned, playful and teasing.

"But where's the fun in that?"

After waving for Mirajane to come inside, Erza had exited her room to make her way to the hall to meet up with her. She could feel the excitement bubbling in her stomach as she hurried down the stairs. She stopped on the last step, frozen at the sight of Mirajane. Up from her window and in the darkness of the night, Erza hadn't seen what state she was in. Mira hadn't stopped by her place at all, not even to clean up. Her top torn at the stomach, revealing an ugly cut and a darkening bruise, her arms and hands were scratched up pretty badly, and Erza knew that the more she looked at the other woman, the more damage she would notice. And in spite of all that, Mira was standing right there, smiling.

"No hug?" Mira pouted at her.

Erza shook her head.

"You stink. You'll get a hug after we get you cleaned up."

Mira's pout didn't disappear, but she grabbed Erza by the arm, leading the way. But not to Erza's room. Erza opened her mouth to point it out but closed it almost immediately. She was heading for the common bath area.

"You know I have my own bathroom, right?" she questioned, eyebrow arched as she glanced at the woman by her side.

Mira nodded and smiled.

"I've always preferred the common bath, it's more comfortable."

"Just say you're an exhibitionist," Erza mumbled under her breath.

Mirajane stopped in her tracks, her grip on Erza's arm tight, forcing her to pause as well.

"Are you complaining?"

Under Mira's intense eyes, Erza felt herself blushing. She hated it, hated the effect Mira had always had on her. Even if her smile was soft and sweet now, deep down, Mira was still the same she had been all those years ago. She never failed to get under Erza's skin.

"Let's just hurry up."

Mira let go of her arm to intertwine their fingers.

"Are the baths still always empty at this hour?" Mira asked, breaking the comfortable silence.

Erza opened the sliding door to let Mira inside the small changing room and closed it behind her.

"I guess," she answered absentmindedly as Mira began to strip. "Ever does come around pretty late sometimes, though. Well, not as much since she started dating Elfman."

Erza had been right to think that there would be more wounds on Mira's body. Now that she was nude, Erza could see every cut, scratch, and bruise clearly. It seemed like Elfman and her had encountered some trouble during their request. Erza didn't comment on it; there would be time for that later.

Following their routine, Mira sat on one of the small stools and Erza followed, settling behind her. Her back was relatively intact in comparison to the rest of her body. That much was a good sign.

A shiver ran up Erza's spine when the first couple of cold drops of water hit her thighs as Mira washed off the dirt in her hair. Out of habit, Erza reached up and ran a hand through long locks of silver hair.

"Wash my back?"

All Erza could do was nod. She grabbed the cloth that she had taken from the changing room. With her free hand, she pushed Mira's hair over her shoulder. She heard a small hiss of pain when water finally touched the cut on Mira's stomach. There was nothing Erza could do about it now, and she felt helpless, useless; she couldn't let the feeling sink in though, so she pressed a feather-light kiss to the back of Mira's neck as she started to gently rub her back.

"I thought the job was supposed to be easy. Just the one monster?"

Mira chuckled.

"It was easy. At least until we accidentally found a whole nest of monsters," Mirajane explained. "The villagers didn't know. And it really wasn't all that bad. Only took us a few minutes to clean it up."

"Then what happened to you?"

Mira turned off the water and leaned against Erza's body, back pressed to her chest. Trying her best to ignore the blush spreading all the way to the point of her ears, Erza swallowed and wrapped her arms Mira's waist, careful to avoid touching the wounds she had noticed.

"We accidentally found a dark guild," Mira stated, her tone as calm and gleefully innocent as usual.

"You what?!"

"We discovered that a small dark guild was provoking the monsters so that they would attack neighboring villages, so we paid them a visit."

"That was reckless of you." Erza tightened her embrace around Mira's waist and buried her face in her neck. "Things could have ended badly."

Mira placed a warm hand on her Erza's thigh and gave her a squeeze.

"I wrecked the entire guild."

Mira's laugh filled the whole room; she was obviously pleased with herself and the results of the request. It almost felt like things were the way they were before Lisanna disappeared.

"Let's take that bath!" Mira exclaimed, standing up so suddenly that Erza almost fell from her stool.

Erza didn't question her, didn't point out that sitting in what when her skin was covered in cuts might be painful. She knew that it would be useless; Mirajane wouldn't listen, never did, never would when it came to those things.

"Wait!"

Erza froze, a foot above water.

"I forgot something."

Erza turned around, expecting to find Mira going back to the changing room to get whatever she had forgotten, but instead, she was closing the distance between them. She felt the tips of gentle fingertips run up the length of her arm, rising goosebumps in the wake of their touch, until Mira's hand rested against her neck.

Mira stood on her toes to press a quick kiss to her lips.

"I'm home."

"Welcome home...?"